Claude Julien had a pretty good idea Blake Wheeler was on the right path before the Boston Bruins traded him.

Claude Julien had a pretty good idea Blake Wheeler was on the right path before the Boston Bruins traded him.

Julien, now the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, was Wheeler’s bench boss for the majority of his first three seasons in the NHL before a deal sent the right-winger to the Atlanta Thrashers in February of 2011.

The Bruins captured the Stanley Cup in seven games over the Vancouver Canucks that spring and Wheeler has blossomed after being given an expanded role with the Winnipeg Jets.

What part of Wheeler’s game has grown the most since his time with the Bruins?

“Two things: maturity and confidence,” Julien said prior to the game between the Jets and Canadiens. “Maturity is just a normal thing if a player has been around for a long time and he knows the league well. He’s got the confidence now. He’s always been a good skater and a fairly good goal scorer and he just keeps growing. His confidence and leadership abilities right now are really starting to show and that’s to his credit.”

Wheeler and Mark Stuart went to the Thrashers in that deal and the Bruins got forward Rich Peverley and defenceman Boris Valabik.

“What I would tell you was that when we made the trade, we knew we were losing a good player. That was never in doubt,” said Julien. “But at the time, he was a young player and we were trying to win a Stanley Cup and we went with a little bit more experience, which ended up paying off.

“But we knew we gave up something big in order to do that. But when you win a Stanley Cup, as an organization you say it was the right move. But there’s no doubt he was a good player then and a much better player now.”

Spreading the wealth

Just last season, the Jets played a grand total of one full period with their top-six defenceman together – in the first game of the season for Jacob Trouba after a contract stalemate Tyler Myers suffered a groin injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign – so you can be sure they’re happy about the current state of their health.

Although Dustin Byfuglien missed a pair of games with a lower-body issue and Dmitry Kulikov sat out two games with a knee injury, the Jets haven’t had their depth on the back end tested nearly as often so far.

“We have a very deep defence and in my opinion, some of the best three pairings in the league,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “We’re very consistent throughout the three pairings. We’ve been consistent as a group but in individual games, different pairings have stepped up and had a big night. It’s been pretty good that way as well.”

The other thing that good health has done for Jets head coach Paul Maurice is allowing him to spread out his minutes a bit more evenly among the three pairings.

Byfuglien led the NHL in time on ice per game last season (27:27) but he’s down to 24:03 per game right now, while Jacob Trouba is averaging 22:26, Tyler Myers is at 20:21, Morrissey is at 19:17, Toby Enstrom is at 16:55 and Kulikov is at 15:46.

“It’s been really important and they’ve handled it well,” said Maurice. “Every one of those guys wants to play 25 minutes. We think there will be more of a long-term benefit.”

So while the spreading of the wealth has already been a benefit, it should become even more of one as the Jets see more game action over the course of the next six weeks when they’re playing almost every other day.

Laine working the media?

There’s been plenty of discussion during the past several days regarding Patrik Laine’s critical self-evaluation of his play prior to Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars.

On Saturday morning, Maurice once again praised Laine for holding himself to a high standard.

“He’s just really, really smart and he’s probably got this whole things figured out better than all of us. But at that moment, it was well-played,” said Maurice. “He’s driven to score goals and he’s angry when he doesn’t. There’s no grey area here. When he’s not (scoring goals), you get what he said the other day. He’s not happy with his game and he’s not really happy with anything. You live with that and it’s part of what drives him. But his last game, if you take the goal out, it’s one of the best games he’s played. His game wasn’t in the tatters that he was feeling it was. I chuckled when I saw (Laine’s comments). You can’t tell a guy to score harder.”

Lowry plays the waiting game

Jets centre Adam Lowry missed a ninth consecutive game with an upper-body injury on Saturday night, though Maurice stressed it wasn’t because of a setback of any kind.

“He’s cleared for contact, but the (nature of the) injury meant he couldn’t do a lot of conditioning and a lot of grinding and we don’t have to put him in before we can put him through that,” said Maurice. “This is more about fitness. I could put him in the lineup. There’s some competition there. I don’t have him at the bottom of the pecking order, but coming off an injury, we’re healthy enough that he has to be 100%.”

Some folks were wondering if Maurice simply didn’t want to risk rocking the boat by making a lineup change, but Saturday was always the earliest that Lowry was going to return to action and the fact the Jets had the day off on Friday was another factor in the decision to hold him out.

If it was a playoff game, Lowry would have been in the lineup and he will play a valuable role once he returns to action.

Don’t be surprised to see Lowry suit up Monday against the Dallas Stars.

This Week's Flyers

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